Sited at a crucial intersection that links Pomona College and the community of Claremont, the Benton Museum of Art offers spaces for both direct and casual engagement with art. Inspired by the thatch-work plan of the overall campus, where long arcades and pedestrian axes string together spaces of varying size, intimacy, and interiority, the building’s organizational scheme is purposely porous. Passersby can glimpse the art, while visitors inside get views of the Southern California landscape beyond. 

The Benton Museum emulates the conditions of a much larger institution, offering students direct insight into the realities of museum curation and operations. This pedagogical imperative of the college led to the creation of a range of gallery, back-of-house, and social spaces, including two student-curated curricular galleries. Additionally, gallery-rated educational spaces are directly connected to storage vaults, so that artworks can be easily transferred for study in a classroom environment. 

Cast-in-place concrete, long used on Pomona’s campus, serves as structure, thermal mass, and exterior façade. Smooth-finished on the museum’s shorter volumes and board-formed on its taller ones, the concrete plays visually with the richly stained heavy-timber arcade that wraps around the museum and creates a series of thresholds.  

“We now have all of our collections under one roof for the first time. This new building will allow us to mount shows that are beautiful, engaging, and provocative.” — Victoria Sancho Lobis, Director of the Benton Museum of Art